Kid fell into a deep chasm. As she fell, she heard Sangre’s voice.

“There’s more to this place, you know. Did you know the Axeblade Abattoir used to be powered by geothermals? Do you remember what I said? You can burn and burn… but not burn up.”

Lin and the Mushman fell down with Kid. Kid kept her grip on the Catalyzer 9001, and waited for the fall to stop. It took a few more seconds, and they all jolted to a sickening halt.

The monster seemed dazed by the fall. Inside, insulated by fungus, Lin seemed fine. Kid stood up holding the Catalyzer. She clicked the button again. Flames dribbled out.

“Wait just one second there,” Lin said. “I want to talk before Mushman has his dinner.”

Kid clicked the button as fast as she could, but the Catalyzer seemed to take forever to heat up. “Say what you’re going to.”

“Look around you. Beautiful, isn’t it? The center of the world.”

Kid glanced, careful not to take her eyes off Lin for long. They were surrounded by towering columns of fungus, and brilliant light. Crystals taller than Snaggletooth glinted all around them, and bats squeaked overhead.

“Shame you want to destroy it.”

“The world doesn’t need this place,” Kid said back. Her breath caught in her throat. What if someone discovered this place, and it’s wealth of super-powered fungus? The world would never be the same again. “It’ll only be misused.”

“Right. Just a moment. Don’t you feel the spores in your lungs? They’ll choke out your airway—but you won’t die. So don’t worry.” He whistled a little.

Kid coughed. “There has to be an antidote.”

“No,” Lin laughed. “I don’t think so.” She shook her head. “Is there anything you want to know before you’re trapped here, forever?”

“Why are you so mean?” Kid continued to try to awaken the Catalyzer. There was a little dial on the side, and she cranked it to max. The tip of the flamethrower burned orange-hot.

“Right. Sangre, tell her,” she shouted to the space above them. “It’s a real tear-jerker.”

“No one cares about her. It’s always ‘Lin the bully.’ That’s not her name. Should be ‘Lin, her majesty.’ When her mom died, she lost everything. And when I gave her the lard… well, you know the rest. She went mad. She hasn’t been the same since. Sometimes the lard creates bloodlust. It’s a known side effect. It’s started a few wars, in fact. Axeblade, jewel of the desert, the center of the world…”

So Lin had fallen mad. Could Kid destroy someone who was a victim? There had to be an antidote, but where? Kid listened to Sangre speak through all the noise of the abattoir and mines above.

“You think I’ll tell you what the antidote is? Ha! As if I’d let you escape this fate. You’ll suffer with me, too.” Kid put her hands over her ears, as if she could block out the noise of the machinery above. But every little noise was beamed straight into her head, and her teeth felt like they were vibrating.

“You think I want to hear everything all the time? Every little thought, every rustling bat when I try to sleep—you’ll go mad too. It’s only a matter of choice. So kill her, or not. She’s immortal like you. You want to burn one of your classmates to death? How brash! We’re all victims of the abattoir. Do you know what it is to lose your mind?”

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Lin laughed, and clicked something inside the Mushman’s head. The monster’s single eye burned brighter than ever and flames leaped from his tears.

The Catalyzer was ready, and Kid began to take aim. There was no other way. A beam of flame sputtered out.

“Fine,” Lin said. “We’ll do this your way.”

Flames shot from both the Mushman’s eye and the Catalyzer at the same time. The beams aligned and balanced together. With their powers so balanced, neither of them could find a way to overpower the other.

The flames continued to flow. Kid knew she made a mistake. She couldn’t stop firing now, if she wanted to evade the burning. But to kill Lin? That was beyond her. The end of the flamethrower pressed into her shoulder with tremendous force, causing her heels to slide backwards. She was running out of breath; the spores were taking hold.

Overcome with the despair of the situation, and the cruelty of her own choice, Kid began to weep. White tears, flecked with yellow, ran down her face. The bats erupted into chaos and began spiraling around them. The scent of hot bats and burning hair made her retch. If the Catalyzer was powered by Mushman tears, then what power would her own tears hold?

When the tears touched the end of the Catalyzer, it began crackling with energy. With a surge of power, the beam of fire overcame Lin and the Mushman’s and began to burn them.

The cavern, heated by this burst, began to crumble and collapse. The bats fled, squealing, and Kid dropped the flamethrower from her blistered hands.

But how could she escape? Even with her power, she couldn’t make the jump.

She waited, burning, until the flames died down.

***

When the flames were gone, she picked through the rubble and pulled out Lin’s body. She glowed, but didn’t move. The Mushman, freed from his controller, stood idly by.

Kid buried Lin and cried over the grave. As she was turning to leave and find a way back to the surface, Lin’s arm shot through the smoldering dirt.

“What the—”

Kid thought the Catalyzer would have killed her, immortal as she was. But Lin seemed to still be alive…

…and thoroughly afraid!

“I can’t believe you’d do that,” Lin whimpered when her head broke through the dirt. “To me! Of all people.”

“Lin. Listen to me,” Kid pleaded. “I had no choice.”

“Are you even sorry?”

“I am,” she said, choking on her words. “I had no choice, there was nothing else to do.”

“And you thought I died…” Lin considered Kid’s words. “You truly care for me?”

“Yes! I risked everything for you. When I could have escaped with them, I stopped to talk to Sangre. Don’t you remember? I couldn’t bear to leave you behind.”

Something shifted on her face. The malice and anger began to flee. “But I wanted to be a princess… and I almost died…”

“Lin, please, you have to work with me. I can set you free. Your friends are all waiting for you up there.”

“They’re not my friends. I bullied them.”

“But they’ll forgive you. I just want everyone to get out of here alive.”

“But daddy?”

“He’s not your dad. He’s too old.”

“Lin? My princess. Listen to me.”

“No!” Kid shouted. “He’s a severed head. We shouldn’t even be able to hear him. There has to be an antidote, a way to free us all.” She ran out of breath and lapsed into a fit of coughing.

“Nothing can kill us, it seems.”

“How the heck can he even speak to us down here?” Lin said. “Shut up; stop the noise! Free us!”

“Is there an antidote?” Kid begged. “Tell us. Sangre, please.”

He hummed. “Perhaps. But what’s in it for me?”

Kid seemed to consider.

“Make a deal with him,” Lin commanded. “We have to stop this madness. If… if you free me, I’ll be your friend again.”

Kid nodded. “Sangre. What do you want?”

“There is nothing you can give me.”

“Are you sure? What if we gave you some of the antidote, too?”

“Ha, right. Like you would do that for me, after what I did to you.”

“Then we’re at an impasse.”

“Come to the surface where Snaggletooth holds my head. If you can last that long.”

Kid pulled out her handkerchief and wiped the sweat from her filthy forehead. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Alright,” Lin said. “It’s a deal. Mushman, dig us out?”

The monster, finally free from his torment, seemed friendly enough. His left arm was gone, but he seemed to be in no pain and he began to dig a tunnel upward. When they reached floor B 79, they bid goodbye to him. Kid left the Catalyzer 9001 in the cavern, in the Mushman’s control. As much as she longed to burn the whole place to the ground, she couldn’t bear to risk her friends, in case they were still inside the building somewhere.

“Mushman,” Kid said back to him. “Wait three days. When it’s over, burn the whole place.”

He nodded, understanding.

“Now it’s time to see sunlight again. And get a bath!”